What is your Why?

I talk a lot about setting goals with my clients. We follow the SMART principle when it comes to setting them and this means that they need to be:

Specific

Measurable

Attainable

Realistic

Time-bound

These are the goals with which the client’s training program is aligned. Keeping the goal in mind is of vital importance so that we remain on course when training. Our goals change and evolve as we do, and this is important because if a goal is a SMART one, then that goal needs to be attainable, so once we crush that goal then we set a new one.

Goals help us to keep disciplined. Motivation is a temporary emotion, and we will not always be feeling it. When motivation fails us, discipline and habit are what see us through.

Goals are landmarks on our journey.

Our journey does not have a destination.

Our journey becomes our lifestyle and the landmarks are what keep our journey from becoming tedious.

So why do we embark on our journey? The answer to this is crucially important.

What is your Why?

Your Why is as unique as you are. Some people embark on their wellness journey because they want to feel more confident about themselves. Some wish to change their appearance, whether that’s to “gain” muscle specifically, or to gain weight overall, or to lose weight, or to change their body composition – each Why has relevance and importance to that person.

Some people embark on their journey because of health problems, the hope of reducing pain, the desire to improve mobility, or because they’ve been instructed to by their health care provider.

Some people do it for mental health reasons.

Me? My Why has changed throughout the course of my journey. I began training because I wanted to look and feel better. For many people, this Why remains unchanged but for me, I realized that chasing an aesthetic was something that did not satisfy me. Whatever goals I reached became unsatisfactory and were never enough. I realized I was chasing something I couldn’t define, I also realized as I progressed that I loved the way that training made me feel. I loved feeling strong. I noticed that I was experiencing less pain, I was sleeping better, I was calmer and I felt so powerful. I found my Why by happy accident. It changed from something that didn’t make me happy, to something that did.

Sometimes your Why is not immediately obvious to you, it can take some reflection and consideration to discover. Take some time to find what your Why is.

Your Why is what will help you to set your goals, to establish the landmarks along your journey and keep you on the right road. Your Why is something you can come back to time and again, because it is the thing that will remind you how important it is to continue on your journey.

What is your Why?